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Category: Democracy and Rule of Law

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The Right to Truth and the struggle against State impunity

SOMETIMES, indeed, you could put your finger on a definite lie. It was not true, for example, as was claimed in the Party history books, that the Party had invented aeroplanes. He remembered aeroplanes since his earliest childhood. But you could prove nothing. There was never any evidence.”  ~ 1984, George Orwell On November 12,…
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Why Parliament passing 10% quota Bill against ‘economic backwardness’ defeats the constitutional mandate of reservation

Both the Houses of Parliament have passed the current Minster of Social Justice and Empowerment, Dr Thaawarchand Gehlot’s Bill titled ‘the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Fourth Amendment) Bill, 2019’. The Bill sought to amend Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution to provide a maximum of 10% reservation in public employment and higher educational…
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One year of Bhima-Koregaon case: Part III | One FIR, many arrests and politics of a State at war with the people

This is the third of a three-part series on the anniversary of the Bhima Koregaon case. Links to Part I and Part II.] [WATCH]  The Bhima Koregaon Case: What Really Happened   Owing to violence as many as 628 crimes under Indian Penal Code (IPC), general laws and 17 under Atrocities Act came to be registered. However,…
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[Read petition] Supreme Court seeks reply from Election Commission of India on plea seeking cross-verification of VVPATs in at least 30% of randomly chosen polling booths in each constituency

ON January 7, 2019, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul issued notice on a petition requiring Election Commission of India (ECI) to count and cross-verify the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (“VVPATs”) in at least 30% (randomly chosen) of all polling…
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India doesn’t have enough legal safeguards to protect expression of healthy criticism, but a recent Kerala High Court judgment might go a long way to change that

IF at all there is a trend in the Indian political scenario since 2014 which can be called consistent, it is the suppression of dissent. Governments have been treading every possible route to quell dissent, from within and outside their systems, and this led political pundits to argue that the democratic fabric of India is in…
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One year of Bhima-Koregaon case: Part II | Why Elgar Parishad spooked Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, the alleged architects of January 1, 2018 anti-Dalit violence

[WATCH]  The Bhima Koregaon Case: What Really Happened   AS stated earlier, Justices P B Sawant and Kolse-Patil, and many other dignitaries from across Maharashtra gathered and conceptualised the programme which was to result in the arrest of at least ten activists on charges of sedition and terrorism, after over six months. In a democratic manner,…
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One year of Bhima-Koregaon case: Part I | History of a 200-year-old battle and why it still matters

TWO esteemed former judges of constitutional courts, both with strong civil rights activist networks, have been conducting various programmes and campaigns aiming at social equality, fraternity and communal peace. They thought it important to celebrate the bicentenary of the Koregaon-Bhima Battle on January 1, 2018, which to their understanding of society would result into harmony between…
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Reactions against Rajasthan repealing minimum education rule for civic polls show India’s crisis of democracy

A few days ago, the newly formed Congress government in Rajasthan headed by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, repealed a rule by the previous the BJP government, that prevented people without a secondary education from contesting Panchayat and other elections. A move that should have drawn universal applause, except from the usual suspects in the Sangh…
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Why the mass acquittal in Sohrabuddin Sheikh case is about grave systemic injustice

It has been 13 years since Sohrabuddin Anwarhussain Sheikh died. He was killed in an “encounter” with the Gujarat police, which is widely believed to be a case of “fake encounter”. He died on November 26, 2005 and since then his brother Rubabuddin has fought for justice. Rubabuddin filed a writ petition in the Supreme…
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